Tire-heating device.



J. A. MAHR. TIRE HEATING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 14,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

'llillllul H J. A. MAHR.

TIRE HEATING DEVICE.

' APPLICATION FILED JULY 14,1909.

945,966 Patented Jan. 11,1910.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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JULIUS A. MAHR, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TIRE-HEATING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUs A. Mann, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Tire-Heating Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention has for its object to provide a highly efficient tireheating device especially adapted for use to expand thetires of carwheels and engine truck wheels for the purpose of applying the same tothe wheels or removing the same therefrom.

To the above ends, the invention consists of the novel devices andcombinations of clevices hereinafter described and defined in theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a plan View of the improved tire heating device, some partsbeing sectioned; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tire heating device,some parts being broken away; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section takenthrough the device on the line m 00 of Fig. 1, showing in connectionwith the tire heating device, a truck for receiving and carrying awaywheels dropped from expanded tires.

In this improved device, the tire is eX- posed to a flame containedwithin an annular combustion chamber, and the heat is preferablyproduced by a multiplicity of burners arranged to deliver the flame intothis combustion chamber where it will come into contact with the outersurface of the tire. Preferably this annular combustion chamber isformed within an annular casting or box 1 that is rectangular in crosssection, but the upper portion of the inner wall of which, and the innerhalf of the upper Wall of which are cut away, so that the outer portionof a tire a may be placed within said annular chamber. The annularcasting 1, at its bottom and outer portion, is provided with an annularlining 2 of fire brick or clay, which is made approximately L-shaped incross section so that the annular combustion chamber 3 is formedimmediately around a tire a which is rested upon the relatively lowinner wall of the casting Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 14, 1909.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

Serial No. 507,530.

1, and upon the lower portion of a lining 2, as shown in Fig. The saidannular casting 1 is supported in an elevated position by legs at andthe opening at the center of the same is large enough to permit the bodyZ) of the wheel to drop tl'ufough the same when the tire has beenexpanded sufliciently to drop the said wheel body.

The space between the rim flange of the tire (a and the upper plate ofthe annular casting 1 is adapted to be closed by a plurality ofsegmental cover plates 5, of which as shown, there are four, and thefour, when in the closed position shown in the drawings, forming anannular cover with suflicient leakage between joints to permit a slowdischarge of the products of combustion from within the combustionchamber 3. Each of these segmental cover sections 5 is shown as providedwith a pair of headed studs 6 that are inserted through and pivotallymounted in the free ends of rims 7 secured to the upper ends of shortvertical shafts S, mounted in radial projecting lugs 9 on the annularbox 1. To detachably, but pivotally connect the rims 7 to the coverplates 5, said rims are provided at their free ends with slots 10adapted to receive the reduced portions of the studs 6, and to engagethe heads of said studs and hold the latter against sliding movementsout of the seats 10, said rims 7 are further provided with pivoted lockpieces 11, (see particularly Fig. 2.) At their lower'ends, every othershaft 8 is provided with an arm 12. There being eight of the shafts 8,and hence four of the arms 12, two of the arms 12 at one side, areconnected to a curved connecting rod 13 and two arms 12 on the otherside, are connected to a similar curved connecting rod 13. The extendedends of the two connecting rods 13 are pivotally connected to a commonoperating lever 14: which is shown as pivotally connected to a bearing15 and the annular box 1. By movements of the lever 14 in one direction,the segmental cover plates 5 will be simultaneously moved from theirclosed or operative positions indicated by full lines in Figs. 1 and 2into open positions, indicated in part only by dotted lines in Fig. 1.Obvously, reverse movement of the lever 14: will simultaneously move thesaid cover plates from their open into their closed positions. In theiropen positions, the cover plates are moved entirely outward of the spaceoccupied by the tire a when positioned in the combustion. chamber, sothat the tire may then be freely removed or placed in position.

The flame for heating the tire is preferably afforded by a multiplicityof oil burners 16, the discharge nozzles 17 of which are connected tothe annular combustion chamber 3 through ports 18 that lead through theouter wall of the annular box 1 and through the upwardly extendedportion of the lining 2. The flame is thus delivered at severaldifferent points into the annular combustion chamber 3 and may becirculated entirely through the said combustion chamber, thereby cominginto direct contact with the en tire peripheral portion of the tire.

The burners which are preferably employed, are of the type disclosed andclaimed in my copending application S. N. 507,531 filed of date July141, 190%), entitled Oil burner. In this type of burner, both air andoil are supplied thereto; and in the arrangement shown, the severalburners are connected by a pipe 19 and an oil supply pipe 20, andfurthermore, the said several burners are connected by a pipe 21 to anair supply pipe 22. Preferably oil and air will be supplied to the pipes20 and 22 respectively under the same, or aproximately the samepressure. For an important purpose, it will be noted that a smallcylinder 23 is connected in both of the pipes 20 and 22.

lVorking in a cylinder 23, is a piston 24, the stem 25 of which worksoutward through one end of the cylinder. A spring 26, which surroundsthe piston stem 25, tends to move the piston into its customary positiontoward the right, shown in Fig. 1. This spring, however, is of suchlight tension that when the piston is subject to the same pressure onboth sides, said piston will, because of the smaller effective surfaceon the left hand side, he moved from the right to aid the left, and willbe held in a position considerably farther toward the left than shown inFig. 1, as long as both oil and air are being delivered to the burners.The pipes 20 and 22 are provided respectively with valves 27 and 28 bymeans of which the oil and air may be turned on and out off at will. Asstated, when both the air and oil are turned on, the piston will bemoved toward the left. Vhen, however, the oil and air are cut off, thepiston 24, by its movement from the left toward the right, will drawback into the cylinder from the burner, surplus oil or oil which if notdrawn back would drop from the burner and be wasted.

In Fig. 3, I have shown a truck 29 arranged to run upon rails 30 andprovided. with a spring-supporting annular platform 31, onto which awall body 5 dropped from an expanded tire a is adapted to be dropped andcaught with a cushion or spring action.

In actual practice, the efficiency of the tire heating apparatus abovedescribed has been demonstrated.

What I claim is:

1. In a tire heating device, an annular box having an annular combustionchamber adapted to receive the tire and provided with a central openingthrough which the body of the wheel may be dropped.

In a tire heating device, the combination with an annular box having anannular combustion chamber, with flame delivery ports, of burnersconnected to said ports, a cover for said combustion chamber made up ofsegmental sections, and connections for simultaneously moving the saidcover sec tions outward and inward to and from working positions,substantially as described.

3. In a tire heating device, the combina-- tion with an annular boxhaving an annular combustion chamber and means supporting the same in ahorizontal elevated position, of burners for delivering flame into saidcombustion chamber at different points, a cover for said combustionchamber made up of segmental sections, upright shafts journaled inbearings on said annular box, arms on the upper ends of said shaftspivotally connected to said cover sections in pairs, and a lever withconnections for simultaneously moving said shafts and heads of saidcover sections,

substantially as described.

4. In a tire heating device, the combina tion with an annular box havingan annular combustion chamber, and means supporting the same in a liftedhorizontal position, of a cover for said combustion chamber made up ofsegmental sections, upright shafts journaled in bearings on said annularbox, arms secured to the upper ends of said shafts and detaehablypivoted in pairs to said cover sections, arms on the lower ends of saidshafts, and an operating lever and rods connecting the same to the lowerarms of said shafts, for simultaneously moving said cover'sections toand from operative positions, subtantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JULIUS A. MAHR.

Witnesses Amos V. Swanson, HARRY D. KILGORE,

